Slow Down, You Move Too Fast

Sometimes my life starts moving at a frenetic pace. Sometimes it's all good, and sometimes it's so crazy I just want a minute to breathe. I love to stay busy, and to do lots of things. And with four kids, and their friends and the rest of our family, we just simply always have stuff going on.

I crave change...whether it's re-arranging the furniture or a change of scenery, I like new, I like different, I like variations. Of course traditions are also great, and doing the same things many times until you know them well and are totally comfortable with them. But my whole life I have had this yearning to go. And I really really love to travel. I'm fortunate and ever so grateful for the traveling I do get to do, but there are times when I just want to be someplace really far away, or exotic, or to just experience something I've never experienced before. And maybe to try to, just a little bit, satiate those yearnings, I enjoy lots of outings with my kids. And activities, and so forth. And sometimes when things reach that frenetic pace (which is not all my own doing, as I said we simply have a lot to do to begin with!), something happens to remind me to slow down.

Often what happens is I get sick. I don't get sick often, but now and then I just reach a point where I simply can't do anything but lie down all day long until I feel better. Or else I'll suddenly have to really watch my spending (more than usual) and find that I don't have the spare money to do something I wanted to do. Or else, like happened on our recent trip to Ohio, one of my kids gets sick. We were on the tail end of a couple supercalifragilistically fun-filled weeks. Lots of late nights. Lots of sleepovers. Lots of parks. Lots of swimming. Lots of activities. Lots of sunshine. Lots of go-go-go. And truly it was all fun. But I sensed we needed to slow down. I planned on a slow down, just not until the day after Lucy got sick in Toledo. So our slow down came a day early, and there was some disappointment, but we all dealt with it.

I guess my point is that I'm learning to read the signs and heed them. Slow down. There is pleasure and comfort to be taken in days spent at home, relaxing or cleaning or just getting things done that need to get done. I'm learning to pay attention. If I don't slow myself down, the universe will take matters into its own hands.